This photo from the Hankyoreh caught my eye and the accompanying text ( see below) to the shot of a giant bibimbap got me wondering about this particular welfare group. Turns out it's a Christian organisation which runs a soup kitchen amongst other projects but I found two things particularly interesting. First, the name "Da-il" is supposed to mean the "Pursuit of unity within diversity" which sounds a lot like the Indonesian national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika which is ancient Javanese for "Unity in Diversity". Hmmm...was the pastor inspired by the Indonesians?
Next and more intriguing is the Da-il website itself ; if you click on the list of people serving the foundation on the left side bar, you'd find a list that sounds pretty comprehensive in its organisation - from advisors to a board of directors to auditors, and even public relations ambassadors comprising people from the media and entertainment scene. I don't know whether to be impressed or intimidated.
Write-up from the Hankyoreh:
"Pastor Choi Il-do, chairman of the Dail Welfare Foundation, center, and other donors hold giant utensils to mix boiled rice and other ingredients in a large bowl to make bibimbap, mixed rice and vegetables, for 500 people at the “365 Relay of Scooping and Sharing Rice” event held in front of their campaign headquarters in Seoul’s Dongdaemun District, May 2. The event was put on to commemorate the rice-scooping pastor serving a total of five million bowls of free meals to the homeless and those living in poor neighborhoods since its start in 1988. The Dail community usually serves free meals to 1,200 people a day, which costs two million Won ($1,866). Thus far, around 200,000 volunteers have helped serve the meals. (Yonhap News)
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